Condiment containers



June 9, 1959* J. G. DRENNAN I 6 CONDIMENT CONTAINERS Filed Feb. 17, 1958L {m a 341' ////.lIIII% United States Patent "ice 7 are sr'cosrxmnnsJames G. Brennan, San Mateo; Califgassignor to Owens- Illinois GlassCompany, a corporation of- Ohio Application February 17, 1958, SerialNo. 715,591 4 came. (Ci. Zia-4' 98) type fitments andmore particularlyis concerned with the I A provision of simple and effective means tofacilitate assembling such fitments and containers and reliably securingsuch elements together.

An object of my invention is the provision in a device of the abovecharacter, a sifter or shaker-type dispenser comprising a perforate diskand integral attaching skirt wherein the latter is capable ofcontraction to facilitate entry into the container mouth and then uponcomplete insertion expands to bring an annular external rib on the skirtinto holding engagement with the lower side of an internal abutmentwhich is formed on the container in relatively close proximity to themouth opening.

It is also an object of my invention to provide a shakertype dispenserof the above character in which the attaching skirt is reduced inthickness at circumferentially spaced points in such fashion as to forma number of thin distortable webs which are foldable upon themselves toallow contraction of the skirt during an assembling operation andsubstantially upon completion of such operation assume their normalextended form and thereby expand the skirt into firm holding engagementwith retaining means provided internally of the container.

Other objects will be in part apparent and in part pointed outhereinafter.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a fragmentary sectional view showing my invention incorporatedin a condiment container and shaker fitment which are illustrated incompletely assembled form, there being a closure cap indicated in dotand dash lines.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the shaker fitment andcontainer partially assembled with the skirt in its maximum contractedform.

Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view taken substantially along the line 3--3of Fig. 2 and showing the circumferentially spaced thin webs distortedby reason of contraction of the attaching skirt at this stage ofassembly.

Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the sifter fitment.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken substantially alongthe line 55 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary detail sectional view taken along the line 6-6of Fig. 4.

In the illustrated embodiment of my invention, it comprises a bottle orjar 10 formed with a cylindrical wall 11 defining a neck having acircular rim 12 extending about and defining the mouth 13. Interiorly ofthis wall 11 and in reasonably close proximity to the rim 12 is anabutment 14 which is formed by reducing the inside diameter in alocalized annular zone and in such fashion as to provide upwardly ofthis abutment a downwardly inwardly tapered guiding surface 15 andbeneath said abutment an outwardly downwardly flared surface 16. Thefunction of this abutment and the surfaces 15 and 16 will becomeapparent presently.

The shaker fitment or dispenser element 17 may be 2,88%,967 patentedJune 9,. 1959 formed" or rubber or other elastic material but preferablyof polyethylene: It. is molded in a single piece and comprises a flatd'isk 18 of a diameter slightly greater than the; interior diameteroftlie annular rim '12 so that when assembled this disk-may, to someextent, rest upon this rim. This disk '18 is-providedwith amultiplicityofperforations 19 extending therethrough; such perforations being of adiameter dictated by the particular grain size of the condimentorflothe'r material involved. The attaching-.meansfor separably andreliably securing the disk 18' upon the rini 12' of the containercomprises an annular skirt 20 depending from and of somewhat smallerdiameter than said disk 18i This attaching skirt is intended to beteles'cope'd into the container mouth and cooperate with theaforementioned abutment 14 in such fashion as to effectively interlockthe two elements.

Preferably this attaching skirt is an annular wall 21 of approximatelythe thickness of the-disk 1 8; such wall preferably though notnecessarily being flared outwardly and downwardly away from the disk.The exterior surface of the skirt is formed in its upper area with 'anoutwardly downwardly tapered zone 22 and beneath the latter with arelatively abrupt downwardly and inwardly tapered Zone 23 whichfunctions as a guide to aid in the initial steps of the assemblyoperation. In order to insure re liable interlocking and assembly of thetwo elements, it is apparent that the skirt 20 at the juncture of thetwo zones 22 and 23 must be of slightly greater diameter than that ofthe abutment 14 so that when the two parts are completely assembled therib 24 provided at said juncture point will be positioned just below theabutment 14. Consequently, this abutment will resist bodily upwarddisplacement of the panel fitment relative to the container.

To the end that the assembling operation may be performed with relativeease yet when assembled the parts cannot inadvertently become separated,I have designed the attaching skirt in a special fashion to obtain bothof these highly desirable objectives. Accordingly, at circumeferentiallyspaced points in the attaching skirt 20 I have formed relatively deeptransverse channels or grooves 25 which open through the lower margin ofthe attaching skirt and have an upper end wall 26 which in effect is apart of the lower side of the disk 18. By forming these grooves orchannels of sufficient depth, I have provided thin resilient and more orless readily distortable webs 27 which collapse and fold in onedirection or another as the rib 24 of the skirt approaches and slidesover the abutment 14 incident to assembling of these parts. Such foldingor distortion of these webs may assume either of the forms shown in Fig.3 or perhaps any of many other forms. All or only some of the webs maybe so distorted. Immediately following movement of the rib 24 on theskirt beyond said abutment the webs 27 are free to and do return totheir normal position because of the elastic memory of the material, allwith the result that the attaching skirt expands to its normal maximumdiameter as shown in Fig. 1, and the rib and abutment interlock toefiectively hold the parts assembled.

Modifications may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A sifter-type fitment formed of resilient plastic material andcomprising a relatively flat disk provided with a multiplicity ofperforations therethrough, an annular attaching skirt depending from andof lesser diameter than the disk, said skirt increasing in externaldiameter downwardly from approximately its juncture with the disk to aplane near its free end perpendicular to the axis of said fitment andthe exterior surface below said plane being directed generally inward toform an annular tapered guiding surface, said skirt being longitudinallygrooved externally at circumferentially spaced points to a radial depthsuch as will form a radially distortable thin resilient Web normallyyieldingly holding the skirt expanded to its maximum diameter, therebyproviding an interrupted holding rib at the upper margin of said guidingsurface.

2. The fitment defined in claim 1, the skirt inits entirety normallybeing flared toward its free end.

3. In combination a container comprising an annular wall defining amouth, said wall having an outer end providing an annular rim and aninternal annular surface of reduced diameter near said rim to form anabutment, a sitter-type fitment formed of resilient plastic material andcomprising a relatively flat disk provided with a multiplicity ofperforations therethrough, said disk being of greater diameter than theinternal diameter of the annular rim and positioned in contact with thelatter, a resilient annular attaching skirt depending from and of lesserdiameter than the disk, said skirt positioned within the container mouthand formed externally at a plane beneath and parallel to the plane ofsaid abutment with a radially outwardly projecting rib of greaterdiameter than 20 a 4 viding a thin resilient transverse web at its base,said webs being capable of distortion to facilitate contraction of theskirt as its rib portion passes over said abutment during assembly andthereafter resumption of their undistorted form to positively expand theskirt to its normal maximum diameter.

4. The combination defined in claim 3, the skirt normally being flaredtoward its free edge and provided externally near said edge with aninwardly downwardly tapered surface merging with said free edge andproviding guide means facilitating insertion of the skirt into thecontainer mouth.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,723,041 Hart-Sill Nov. 8, 1955 2,792,976 Stewart May 21, 19572,820,564 Solomon Jan. 21, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 767,144 France May 1,1934

